Mineral separator



Nov. 8, 1927.

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MINERAL SEPARATOR Filed AuQI. 3. 1925 Nov. 8, 1927. 1,648,333

, r R. S. BALDWIN ET AL- MINERAL SEPARATOR Filed A1121. 5, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 mcmtoc Guam Nov. 8, 1 92 7.

1548,33 3 R. s. BALDWIN ET AL.

MI NERAL SEPABATOR Filed Aug. 5, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Guam.

Patented Nov. 8, 1927.

parts rates ar is RALPH S. BALDWIN AND WILLIAM A. OI-INSTON, OF SPOKANE, WASHING-TON.

MINERAL SEPARATO B.

Application filed August 3, 1925. Serial No. 47,681.

Our present invention relates to improve ments in mineral separators adapted especially for use in placer mining in extracting precious metals. Vhile our invention involves an apparatus adapted for the extraction of Various precious metals, we have confined the description and illustration of the physical embodiment of our invention to the separation of gold from the accompanying coarse sand and gravel, in order that brevity and a clear understanding of the apparatus may be presented.

' By the utilization of our invention a com pactly arranged apparatus, to which power is supplied from a single source, is secured, through which the gangue is passed and from which the tailings are extracted and the gold is collected at various StatlODS, Thus during the course of travel of the gangue through the apparatus the gold is collected at three different stations, and the final discharge from the apparatus is relatively free from gold; 1

The invention involves means for agitating, Washing, holding the material in suspension and conveying the material 1n con nection with precipitating and collecting devices for the gold, as will hereinafter be more fully pointed out and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of our invention wherein the parts are combined and arranged according to the best mode we have so far devised for the practical application of the principles of our invention.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a mineral separator involving the principles of our invention.

Figure 1 is an enlarged detail view of the adjustable actuating device for imparting the rocking motion to the shaker or washing table.

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation of the machine parts being omitted and parts broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 3 is a detail vertical sectional view of the agitator and plates at line 3-3 of Figure 1 for final treatment on copper plates in the extraction of the gold.

Figure 4 an enlarged detail longitudinal.

vertical sectional view at line H of Figure 1 showing the agitating screens and separating pan for coarse materials and the conveyer for the finer materials. I

Figure 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view enlarged at line 55 of Figure 1 show ing the operation of the washing table.

In carrying out our invention we utilize the well known type of sand hog or pump 1 which is operated from a suitable motor'2 from its main shaft 3 through pulleys 4 and 5 and the belt 6, for supplying the pulp or gangue. By means of the pump the gangue is elevated through a feed pipe 7 to a suit'- able height'and discharged, as indicated in l igure 4 upon a stationary, inclined screen 8 which is preferably composed of a suitable number of spaced, parallel rods or bars, disposed longitudinally of the machine and supported at their ends in the walls of the rein,

feed hopper which is indicated as a whole c by the numeral 9 and supported upon a. frame 9% As the gangue is discharged upon the inclined screen, the coarser material, as gravel, runs 7 down the obliquely arranged screen to the tailings trough 10 which is arranged transversely at the front of the machine, for further use and separation.

The finer material as gold-bearing sand lsseparated from the gravel by passage through the stationary screen and falls upon doubledeck agitating screen located beneath the stationary screen and also disposed longitudinally of the machine in an inclined position.

The agitating screen comprises an upper reticulated apron 11 and a lower, parallel reticulated apron 12 which vary in the size of their meshes, and as'seen in Figures 2 and 4 these aprons decline toward the ed to the screen through the action of the rotary shaft which is journaled in bearings in the hopper frame 9 transversely of the of the machine and provided with cams or eccentrics 16 below the screen. The 6C? centric shaft 15 is revolved by means of a sprocket wheel 17 thereon, a chain 18, and a drive sprocket 19 on the counter shaft '20. Power is. transmitted to the countershaft, from the engine or motor shaft 3 by means of pulley 21 on the engine shaft, belt 22,-and the pulley 23 on the shaft as shown by dotted lines in Figure 1.

7 As indicated by the arrows in Figure 4 the material passingthrough the agitating screen falls upon the arched distributing plate 24 arranged in the top portion of the firstprecipitating tank 2,5 which is su 3,ported in'the hopper frame 9 below the agitating screen- The precipitating tank as illustrated is fashioned with downwardly converging side walls which receive and guide the material from the distributing plate to the lower central portion of the tank, the lighter sand and water flowing therefrom, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 4, to the trough 10 through an outlet 26 from the tank.

The heavier gold bearing sand is submerged in the tank and the gold is collected by-precipitation in a collec-tioncup 27 located at the bottom of the tank, from which cup the gold may bewithdrawn in suitable manner at required intervals.

The gangue within the tank is agitated or stirred to a considerable degree by a conveyer, but such agitation is not sufficient to prevent precipitation of the heavy mineral as gold to fallto= the collection cup 27, which is detachable from the tank in usual manner.

bearing sand, before they can pass to the collector cup, are conveyed from the lower portion of the tank by an endless'conveyer operating in a housing 28, which is support ed by the frame 9 and 4 thishousing is open at its lower end near the bottom of the'tank, and the housing ,eX-tends upwardly and rearwardly of the machine. Within the housing an endless conv'e'yer of standard type is enclosed and as illustrated comprises an endless chain 29' with buckets or scoops 30 that collect the gangiue at he. bottom of the tank and elevate'i't to theupper end of the housing from which the gangue is discharged through an opening or outlet 31'.

' The endless conveyer 1s operated by means of a lower shaft 32 and its sprocket wheel 33- and' the uppershaft 34 and its sprocket 35 over which sprockets or wheels the chain 29 passes, and power is applied to the shaft As'seen' in Figures 2 32 through pulley wheel 36 thereon, belt 37 and drive pulley 38 on the countershaft- 20,

as seen in Figure 1.

The gangue from the upper end of the endless conveyor is emptied for further sepminerals, water is added to the gangue from an overhead longitudinally extending, perforated pipe 39 which receives its supply through the main pipe 40 from a suitable source. 7

As the gangue issues or flows froinfthe conveyer-mouth 31 it may be sprayed with water in preparation for the washing treatment on the shaker or rocking table, and for this purpose a spray pipe ornoz zle 41, having a supply, which is controlled or' regu lated by the valve 42, is connected with the main water pipe. The spraying nozzle is arranged to direct a spray of water to impinge against the cups 30 of the conveyer as they pass. the discharge opening 31 of the housing, and the cups are thus washed out toinsure a complete emptying of the ma terialtherefrom. I V v The shaker table is disposed longitudinally of the machine to receive the gangue from the conveyer, and is supported upona frame structure indicated as a whole by the numeral 43, which structure includes, a fixed beam 44 located on the longitudinal axis of the machine. I At theends of the beam 44' a pair of sus pending bolts or posts 45 are fixed "and adapted to suspend the shaker table in order that it may oscillate on the line of its longit linal axis as indicated bydotted lines in s Figure 5. slightly concave top 46- fashioned of suitable material and rigidly securedto a rocking or oscillating beam 47 located directly above and parallel with thejsupporting beam 44, anda roughened or corrugated pad or mat 48 on the top of the table is utilized in con.- necti'on with the WZLSl'llDg operation of the gangue as thetable is rocked or oscillated. At its ends the rock bearn'47 is journ'aled' in bearings 49of the posts or bolts 45 to permit oscillation of the table within limitsas'indicated by the dotted line positions in Figure 5.

and the corrugated mat, the dirt coatings of the grains or goldare loosened and freed from the precious metal, and the lighter ma:- terial' is gradually worked laterally of the table andeventhally disposed of at the sides By the action of the continuously osci'l lating table, together with the ad-ded'water The table proper comprises a I open ends of the chutes to. prevent splashing and escape of the material over the sides of the table top and to direct the material down the chutes.

These vertically arranged Chutes have downwardlyconverging bottoms that terminate, at the longitudinal centerof the table, in opposed, transversely arranged inclined sluices 52 and 53, and these sluices are joined together beneaththe beam 4A and provided with a single or common outlet or discharge orifice 54 for the gangue. As the washed material passes through the chutes and sluices, the continuous agitation maintains the suspended condition of the material as it falls into a second precipitating tank 55 located beneath the outlet 54 in position to receive the material.

This precipitating tank is preferably conical in shape and at its bottom is provided with a collector cup 56in which the heavy grains of gold are collected as they are gathered by precipitation through the liquid content of the tank. From the collector cup 56 the grains of gold may be removed at intervals by suitable means. I

The lighter material or tailings of the liquid content of the tank are disposed of through a sluice way 57 that opens from the converging walls of the tank at a predetermined level to insure disposal of the tailings without disturbing the gravitational movement of the heavier grains that are precipitated to the bottom of the tank.

The shaker table is mechanically operated from the shaft 82 through a pulley 57 thereon, a belt 58, and a pulley 59 on a second shaft 60, as shown partly in dotted lines Figure 1, said latter shaft being journaled in bearings as 61.

The rotary movement of the shaft 60 is transmitted to the shaker table and trans. lated into oscillatory movement through a crank disk 62 and a pitman connection 63 pivoted at 64 on the disk and provided with a swivel or universal joint 65 on the table. This oscillating movement of the table may be varied to suit different conditions by connecting the pitman at one of the selected points 66 on the disk 62 as indicated in Figure 1", to lengthen or shorten the throw or stroke of the pitman.

The heavier materials including gold bearing sand, that do not find their way to the lateral chutes of the rocking table are disposed of from the right end of the table in Figures 1 and 2 and these materials pass from the table outlet 67, by gravity, through the vertically arranged chute 68, to a separating tank 69 shown in Figures 1 and 3. This separating tank is provided with a vertically arranged rotary separator or stirrer which includes a vertical shaft 70 having horizontally disposed radial stirrer pins 71 projedting therefrom and located Within the 73 and a gear couple 74: and horizontal shaft 75 are employed to rotate the shaft 70. The shaft 75 which-is journaled transversely of the machine in bearings 76, is rotated from the shaft 20 through sprocket 77 and chain 78, which chain passes over a driven sprocket 79 on the shaft 75.

The material in the tank is agitated or stirred by the action of the stirrers 71 as they rotate to permit the heavier metals to precipitate and as they submerge the metals or' minerals settle in the collecting cup 80 at the bottom of the conical tank, from which the deposit may be removed for further treatment in usual manner. The lighter materials that are not submerged nor precipitated in the tank are buoyantly supported or floated at a higher level in the tank than the stirrers, and this lighter material flows from the tank by way of the laterally disposed outlet trough 81.

As a final step in the extraction of the precious metals we employ mercury-covered copper plates 82 and 83 to receive the material from the precipitating tank 69. These plates as best seen in Figure 3 are inclined in opposite directions and located at different levels in order that the gangue may flow from the outlet trough 81 over the surface of the two plates, and to aid in the flow of the materiala'perforated pipe 84 is arranged transversely of the first plate at its highest point to spray the Thus by amalgamation in usual material. manner with the mercury the fine gold is gathered from the flowing material and removed for further treatment.

The tailings, principally sand, are gathered from the second plate 83 as they flow against a guide or baffle plate 84:, into a transversely arranged trough 85 located at the low level of the apparatus, and a rotary stirrer 86 on the shaft 87 agitates the material in this trough. The horizontally disposed rotary stirrer separates the.

remaining gold bearing sand or grains of gold so that they may be recovered, while the residue passes off through an outlet trough '88 at the side of the larger trough 85. This rotary stirrer is operated by chain 78 which passes around a sprocket wheel 89 on the shaft 87. 7

From the above description taken in connection With our drawings it will be apparent that we are enabled to extract substantially all of the gold from the gangue during the course of the latter through the apparatus or machine.

Having thus fully'described our invention, what we claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is In a mineral separator the combination With a plurality of precipitating tanks each supplyiitlg water to the table, means for having a gold-collecting cup, of a concentransferring heavier tailings from the table 10 trator table supported to oscillate over the to the third tank, and means for disposing second" tank, means adapted to elevate of tailings from the third tank. material from the first tank to the table, In testimony whereof We 'atfix'our sigsaid table being adapted to retain values natures. I and discharge lighter taiiings over the sides RALPH S. BALDWIN. of the table to the second tank, means for WILLIAM A. JOHNSTON. 

